


Awakening a Dark Lullaby

by MaleficentorMagnificent (NattheBattz)



Category: Dead by Daylight (Video Game)
Genre: Canon Temporary Character Death, Canon-Typical Violence, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-28
Updated: 2020-05-28
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:47:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24419113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NattheBattz/pseuds/MaleficentorMagnificent
Summary: When Claudette helps Nancy during her first Procedural facing The Huntress, she unknowingly piques the killer's interest."This new foe holds something human within her... There is something else in her too, she seems to seek something."
Relationships: Anna | The Huntress/Claudette Morel
Comments: 5
Kudos: 42





	Awakening a Dark Lullaby

**Author's Note:**

> This idea hit me like a freight train, so here I am, Boo-Boo the clown. :0)   
> I have no defense for this, other than I love Claudette and The Huntress, and desperately wish there were more fics for them :c

Waking up on the ground in front of the campfire had been jarring at first, no doubt. Claudette had been disoriented upon her first awakening as she dazedly wiped leaves and dirt from her cheek, while she tried to remember how she’d gotten there. She’d heard Dwight throw up as he gained consciousness before he croaked a confused, “ _What the hell?_ ” Jake and Meg had both been quieter when they awoke, as they each warily took in their surroundings. It was hard to see past the illuminated space of the campfire through the thick fog that seemed to move about them through the trees. Dwight and Meg filled the space with their talking, dragging Jake and Claudette in as much as they could to, “ _build team trust_ ” as Dwight put it. The latter two didn’t share the same passion for team-building, but seeing as they were all trapped there together… getting along made logistical sense. Not that that stopped them from wandering off into the woods between trials to explore their surroundings as well as to get some space from the others. 

Sometimes Jake and Claudette went their separate ways in the woods, him wanting solitude while she wanted to investigate the local fauna. The fact that there were plants here was the only reason Claudette didn't entirely believe that she was in Hell. It was easy to think that's where they were, stuck in a seemingly never-ending cycle of fear, pain, and death seems such a far cry from any sort of peaceful afterlife such as Purgatory or Heaven. But the sheer joy Claudette gets whenever she finds a plant reassures her, allows her to take just a little solace from the fact that she still has plants to surround herself with. Not only that, but she can use them to help them during the Procedurals, and the look of awe and thanks she receives when she helps heal the others' wounds is enough to put a small smile on her face as well. Here she was useful, appreciated, and her botanical and first-aid knowledge was priceless. She doubts she'd ever feel so fulfilled in Hell, but that feeling didn't last forever. 

The more Procedurals they went through, the more trials they lost, the more Survivors that would appear by the campfire. Claudette never took the lead in introducing the new group members to the ropes of the trials, but if asked she would offer what knowledge she could. Some were easier for her to talk to than others, but none of them were as understanding about her own abrasiveness as Jake or Meg. Though despite initial hesitance due to her own reserved nature, the others did in fact come to her. They asked her her name, even though she’d been sure Meg or Dwight would’ve told them knowing she doesn’t like to do so herself. (Jake probably would too, if the other survivors could find him before they found her, but he was even more solitary than she was). They asked her where she was from, what she left behind when the Entity took her— _when did the Entity take you?_ — and she doesn’t answer those questions as easily, instead she would turn the focus to the benefits of being able to identify Crispleaf Amaranth or Primrose Blossoms for the Procedurals. Those were all that truly mattered anymore, after all. 

Nancy Wheeler hadn’t been within the Entity’s realm for very long at this point— at least Claudette didn’t think so, time is all very relative in the perpetual cycle of run, repair, escape, or die— but her tenacity and intelligence has proven her to be a quick study. She’s quick to go from generator to generator, making sure that multiple machines are progressed so that they all have a better chance to finish them. 

But the younger woman hasn’t faced The Huntress yet, and it’s blatantly obvious as she scrambles away from her, running toward a decrepit wall with a window in it. Claudette can already tell what the younger woman is trying to do from where she's crouching to hide behind a thick tree, hugging herself against the bark and quickly wiping her sleeve against the lenses of her glasses in an attempt to clear the rain from them. She tries to call out to warn her away, but like every other Procedural, all that comes out is silence as the constricting pressure of the Entity clogs her throat in order to stop her from verbally communicating. She’s learned that during the trials the Entity makes it like some of the nightmares she’d had as a child, where she wanted to scream for help, but she’d been unable to make a peep. Only, the Entity allows her to scream and cry, as fear and pain are the only things it wants any of them to be able to clearly communicate and spread during the trials. The survivors had talked about making a short-hand-sign-language for the Procedurals, but the unpredictability of them was enough to keep them down to the basic gestures of pointing and waving toward themselves. 

A generator bursts to life with such force it causes a stain to appear on the other side of the smoke house right as Nancy vaults over the window ledge. The Huntress doesn’t hesitate or look away though, sending her hatchet flying straight at Nancy with deadly precision so that the weapon lodges itself into her right shoulder blade with a wet _thud_ that tears a scream of shock and pain from the young woman’s throat as she stumbles forward from the impact. She manages to stay upright though, and Claudette can see her hunched silhouette through the wall now that she’s injured. She can also briefly see Jake and Feng going for a near-to-them generator before their auras vanish from her vision. They’re expecting her to help Nancy, and that’s fine, she can do that as soon as they manage to get away from the killer. She creeps her way forward, carefully stepping over a twig half-hidden beneath the foliage, and ducks behind a thick bush before crouching against another large tree, able to see around the wall and see the alarming amount of blood that Nancy’s wound is leaving behind her. Claudette feels her heart sink at the sight, knowing all too well that The Huntress will surely be able to track her if she doesn’t stop the bleeding soon. Either by luck or skill, Nancy’s smart enough to double back over her tracks, quietly creeping around the wall with a hand clenched tightly over her mouth to muffle her moans and breathing while The Huntress is in her immediate vicinity. The bleeding woman glances over her shoulder and manages to see Claudette waving to her, letting her know that she’s here to help her. Nancy almost visibly sags in relief as she nods, but the feeling is short-lived as The Huntress suddenly growls and yells as she stomps her feet in frustration at having momentarily lost her prey. 

Claudette points back behind herself toward the hunting cabin in a silent question right as The Huntress starts humming to herself, making their pulses race at the eerie tune. Nancy smothers her grunt of pain as she pushes herself off the wall and starts moving toward the cabin as fast as she dares, trying to keep her scratch marks to a minimum. Claudette retraces her steps to meet up with the other woman on the other side of the decaying building, under the stairs near a pallet should they need it. She tries not to visibly react at seeing the extent of Nancy’s condition up close as she takes in the girl’s haggard appearance. Her striped sweater is now blood-soaked down the back and, the ends of her hair are dark with her blood, and her skin is taking on an ashen-pale quality, all of that coupled with the hatchet still grotesquely protruding from her shoulder makes her look so much younger. Nancy mouths a thankful and tired _hi_ to her, and Claudette responds by mouthing _sorry_ , already dreading having to hurt her further. Nancy looks confused at first, her expression quickly morphing into grim anticipation then acceptance as the other woman firmly grabs the handle of the hatchet, and Nancy can’t help but tense as she nods anyway. She also can’t help the small cry that rips itself from her throat as the older woman yanks the weapon out of her flesh, causing tears to well up in her eyes and a wave of nausea slam into her that threatens to make her either vomit or faint. Claudette gets to work on the wound immediately, jumping harshly when the generator Jake and Feng are on pops to life so loudly it’s visible, making the young, injured woman scream pitifully at the sudden pressure. She is wiping away the excess blood with a cloth, and trying to identify what substance The Huntress has coating her hatchets that’s making it harder to close the wound, when her ominous humming around them fades like she’s heading toward the finished gen to find the others. 

Claudette’s hands are still shaking as she works, her fingers slipping in the blood at times, but at least her heart is no longer hammering in her chest hard enough that it’s all she can hear. She’s almost done patching the younger woman up when a pallet being thrown a few several yards behind them makes her jump and whip her head around to look that direction. She sees Jake-- alone --frantically waving his arms above his head, darting his gaze from her to the other side of the building. She screws her face up in confusion right before her heart slams to a racing pace in her chest as The Huntress’s hum starts up again, this time much louder— _closer_ — to them. Already looking up in that direction, she sees The Huntress turn and throw a hatchet at Jake, forcing him to take cover behind a tree as the weapon sails through the air exactly where he’d been standing a second before. She immediately turns back around and starts stalking toward where they are huddled, and Claudette feels the scream of terror building in her throat as she makes eye-contact with the matching black pits that peek out from behind the bloody rabbit mask. Jake catches her attention once more and points to his right before heading that direction, and Claudette suddenly understands that Jake had initially been trying to lead The Huntress away though she ultimately ignored him. Now though, he was going to be waiting to help heal them up if they can lose their pursuant.

The older woman knows what she needs to do to try and get them all out of here alive, and pushes Nancy away toward the direction Jake’s heading as she scrambles to pick up the hatchet she’d pulled from her shoulder. She holds the weapon in one hand with a grip tight enough to hurt her joints as her blood thunders through her veins while The Huntress bears down on them. She’s terrified but she’s not injured yet, so hopefully she can buy enough time for the younger woman to escape to Jake so he can finish patching her up. She has met the fate of the hook several times for similar altruistic acts, but that’s okay so long as she helps the others escape. The doubts in her head whisper to her of the trials where she sacrifices herself just for everyone to die anyway… the Procedurals that the Entity takes just a little more from her than the other times. She glances over her shoulder and sees Nancy still there frozen in fear, so she reaches behind her to push the younger girl further back and grits her teeth as she raises the weapon between them and the killer. Only, her intense march falters as she comes within her ax's reach of them with her rabbit mask tilting as if curiously taking them in, the red stain of her gaze washing over them. Claudette’s hand is shaking so violently she has to bring up her left one to support the weight of the hatchet, but she dares make no other move, the sounds of all their ragged breathing along with her racing pulse the only things breaking the tense silence. 

The Huntress relaxes her shoulders and lets her ax drop to hang limply by her side, and Claudette swallows the urge to gasp because she’s never seen a killer so much as hesitate to go for the final blow, let alone drop their weapon. The killer’s mouth moves, as if she’s saying something, and she scrunches her face up because surely _mama_ can’t be right, but she can’t figure out what other word it could be. She locks her legs to keep herself from stepping back as The Huntress slowly steps forward, moving as non-threateningly as she's ever seen her. That doesn’t stop her heart from thundering in her chest as the hulking woman steps up in front of her so that she has to look up to keep the mask in her view. Her gaze flits to the killer’s pitch black eyes, and she’s shocked to see a sliver of something that hadn’t been there moments ago. She yelps in shock, her entire body shivering with fear when The Huntress brings one of her large, bloody hands up to rest heavily against her shoulder, pressing down as if to tell her to stay, while her other hand comes up to gently pry the hatchet from her trembling grip. She debates fighting her for the weapon, but knows that she can’t possibly hope to overpower The Huntress’s brute strength so she releases her weak hold. Once the taller woman slips the weapon into her belt, she tilts her focus over Claudette’s shoulder to Nancy and starts humming her lullaby before turning and stalking off in the direction Jake had run. 

Claudette breathes out shakily, blinking rapidly as her eyes well with delayed tears of terror. She’s been through enough Procedurals that she’s lost count at this point, and she’s never seen a killer act like this. She turns around to check on her younger companion and finds her looking up at her with a similar expression of shocked bewilderment. Her lips move, _what was that,_ , she mouths and the older woman can only shrug as she sharply exhales in an attempt to focus herself. She sets back to work tending to Nancy’s wound, and sighs when she stands up and gently shifts her shoulder to test the bandage’s maneuverability. She nods her head with a small _thank you_ , but now that she is no longer profusely bleeding Claudette is confused as to what they should do next. The Huntress wants them to wait here, she can feel that, but does she want to wait for the killer to return? She’s no stranger to the feel of the woman’s ax embedding itself in her body in some form or fashion--some instances worse and more painful than the others-- but she had every chance to cleave her moments ago if that was her intent. They both start when Feng’s scream rings out across the forest, and Claudette is now able to see her aura hobbling away from the killer, dragging her right leg behind her as she runs away. A generator roars to life not too far from where Feng is being chased, revealing Jake’s silhouette for a few seconds as he runs away from the gen and toward Feng. 

Claudette waves for Nancy to follow her, fully standing up and walking inside the hunting cabin in a way that’s unfamiliar during a procedural. She wastes no time in beginning to repair the generator that’s nestled between some trees a few yards past the door. Nancy quickly follows suit with her face furrowed in concentration as she tinkers with the wiring while the older survivor focuses on slipping the ball bearing back into place. She’s pulling the belt as tight as she can, trying to force it over the last pulley while Nancy waits with the wires to hot-wire the gen when Feng’s scream breaks the tense air once more. Claudette glances up to watch her now red silhouette vanish as The Huntress picks her up, but she forces her eyes back to finish her task, Nancy bringing the generator thundering to life a split second before Feng’s silhouette becomes visible once more as she screams from the hook tearing through her shoulder. She can momentarily see The Huntress’s aura as she purposefully stalks away from the hanging woman, and she wonders where Jake is right now. She points to herself and Nancy, then up to the still generator on the deck of the cabin. The younger woman looks like she wants to argue, but Claudette shakes her head and mouths, _Jake_ , earning her a reluctant nod in response. They run up the stairs as fast as they can and she tries to still the violent shaking of her hands while she tries to work on the machine as fast as she can. Nancy seems to be in just as much of a hurry, losing her grip on the ground wire, letting it touch the metal frame and causing a shower of sparks and loud bang to shoot off of the partially functioning gen. They both flinch at the commotion, but keep fastidiously working in an attempt to get the gates powered. 

Jake’s aura comes into view as he runs up to Feng and pulls her from the hook, both of them screaming in surprise seconds later as the Huntress’s red silhouette quickly approaches them. Claudette wants to watch them, but she and Nancy are almost done; they only need just a few more moments. The gen pops loudly as the alarm for the exit gates sounds, the door panels momentarily revealing themselves to her eyes. She takes note of where they are, and glances back in time to see his silhouette stumble forward a split second before his scream reaches her ears, The Huntress evidently having hit him. With both of them injured and still running away, Claudette can’t imagine them successfully escaping with the amount of blood and scratch marks they must both be leaving for The Huntress to track. They need to help them, but helping them in their current states doesn’t mean anything if the gates aren’t open… Claudette exhales harshly, her hands still shaking from the nerves of this trial when she makes up her mind. She turns to Nancy and points toward the nearest exit and mimes pulling the lever to open the door, then points to herself and to where their companions are still running for their lives. Again, it looks like the younger woman wants to argue, but she can’t see the others like Claudette can yet so she merely nods and takes off to fulfill her task. 

The older woman takes a second to wipe her glasses off as best she can, the rain drops having accumulated to a bothersome quantity. Her now soaked clothes do little more than streak the drops of water across the lenses, but she doesn't have the luxury of time to rectify the issue. She shakes her head to try and calm her frantic thoughts as she forces herself to stand and run toward her fellow fleeing survivors. She ignores the birds that fly up at her presence and the twigs that snap loudly under her feet as she sprints toward them, hoping to get to them to lead them to the exit. The exit alarm sounds signaling Nancy’s near completion of opening the door, right as Claudette catches sight of Feng and Jake. She waves them over to her, and wants to sag with relief when they see her and angle toward her to follow. The sight of The Huntress coming around the wall they had as well is enough to keep her tense though, and she tries to call out as she watches the killer wind back her left hand, a hatchet glinting dangerously against the dark woods. Of course nothing comes out and she can do nothing more than helplessly watch the weapon propel through the air, and slam into Jake’s back with enough force to send him sprawling forward into the dirt with a cry of pain and shock. Feng glances over her shoulder, as if to go back for him, but The Huntress is already pulling another hatchet from her belt, so she keeps running instead. 

The forest gives a violent shake as the exit gate noisily rolls open and the ground begins to show early signs of the Entity’s collapse. The Huntress bends down and lifts Jake up like he weighs nothing to her, and begins doubling back to a hook only a few feet back. Claudette begins trying to bandage Feng’s leg up the best she can, but the lack of supplies she has left coupled with the severity of the wound make it hard for her to do so quickly. A touch on her left shoulder makes her jump so violently that Feng cries out in pain, and Nancy holds up her hands mouthing _sorry_ before helping her tend to their companion’s injury. They all flinch at the sound of Jake’s scream as he’s hooked, not needing to see the Entity’s stain to see him from where they’re huddling. The Huntress wastes no time and turns to begin chasing the girls once more, and Claudette’s heart is hammering in her chest so hard it hurts, but she doesn’t want to leave Jake. They’re not done staunching Feng’s bleeding yet, but they are out of time nonetheless. She pushes Nancy and Feng toward the exit while pointing them to it, and they look to her with wide panicky eyes, already shaking their heads in denial. She ignores them and stands to sprint away from the exit to hopefully draw the killer’s attention as well as to circle around and unhook Jake. 

The Huntress ignores her completely and continues pursuing the other two girls. Claudette frowns but takes the opportunity to sprint straight to the hook, grunting as she lifts his weight up onto her shoulder so that Jake can pull himself the rest of the way off the curve of the hook. He drops with pained groan, and she almost collapses under his full weight but just manages to keep them both upright. They run back toward the open exit but hesitate as Feng screams and Claudette looks away with tears of confused frustration welling up in her eyes, as The Huntress’s aura shows her burying her ax into Feng’s face. The forest around them violently shaking as more of it ignites with the embers of the Entity’s collapse draws her attention back in time to see the killer lunge forward and grab Nancy as the girl’s scream cuts through the air. Claudette turns to Jake and points at him then to the exit, knowing they don’t have enough time for her to heal him to come with her, and all escape before the Entity claims them anyway. He shakes his head with a determined grimace on his face, pointing to himself then to her before mouthing, _I’m with you_. Claudette almost smiles and briefly thinks that she would’ve liked to have known Jake in the Before. She nods and they head toward where they last knew the younger girl to be. 

The Huntress’s humming reaches their ears before they can see her, causing their pulses to quicken. Following the lullaby they find her standing exactly where she had been, Nancy valiantly struggling against the larger killer’s grasp, and Feng’s corpse lying on the ground behind them with a large ax sticking out of her bloodied chest. Claudette sees a hook that’s only a few feet behind them and wonders why she’s hesitating to sacrifice the wiggling survivor. She turns back to strategize with Jake but she doesn’t get the chance as his eyes widen in terror while he begins backpedaling. She looks back over her shoulder just as The Huntress passes her, dropping Nancy who grunts in pain as the landing jars her shoulder. She frantically reaches down to help the younger woman up, trying not to hurt her further while also keeping an eye on Jake and their pursuant. Her concern is for naught however, as The Huntress ruthlessly throws a hatchet at his retreating form, the weapon burying itself in the back of his left thigh. He drops to his hands and knees with a pained scream right as Nancy finds her own feet once more. 

The Collapse shakes the forest so harshly that it causes the weary women to stumble to remain upright. Claudette’s heart is racing in her chest as she fights the rising panic upon realizing how little time they have left, and the grim sight of The Huntress hauling Jake’s prone, bleeding form up into her arms. She turns around and Jake’s weak flailing seems even less effective than Nancy’s had been, as she determinedly stalks toward the hook seemingly unaware he’s struggling at all. She hauls him up onto the hook and his scream scrapes against Claudette’s bones as it stutters off into sobs. The Entity’s inky-black legs rapidly form around the hook to threateningly surround Jake, rearing back once fully formed before striking forward. He grabs the middle spike grunting with the effort of keeping it from running him through, but it’s obvious he can’t hold it back for long in his weakened state. Claudette frowns with her decision, sprinting toward him before her hesitation costs them all their lives. She’s going to try and unhook him, and cover him so that they can all make a mad sprint for the exit. She hears Nancy behind her, and feels hope well up within herself despite everything at the idea that at least one of them would be able to grab Jake. Only, The Huntress turns and reaches out with both her empty hands, her iron-like grip locking around Nancy’s upper arm and the other woman’s wrist instead of trying to individually incapacitate them. She looks down at Claudette and she fights her own discomfort to look directly into the taller woman’s black eyes, looking for something, anything to explain the killer’s odd behavior but there’s no answers for her in the red stain of her gaze. They both pull against her hold, but there’s no give, her calloused hands like a vice that continues to dig into their flesh the more they struggle. She starts humming as she leads them toward the exit, and Claudette fights as hard as she can against her tugging, futilely reaching back toward Jake as the rest of his fight leaves him and the Entity spears him through, his body vanishing in the Collapse with a shock wave that knocks the breath from the girls’ lungs. She closes her eyes and cries as she's lead through the burning forest by the hand that just killed her closest friend. 

The Huntress pulls them outside the exit gate and Nancy looks to her captive companion in question, but only sees her looking around just as confusedly. The humming killer walks them to the boundary of the exit, the Entity’s spikes emerging from the ground as she gets too close to the border that serves as a brief sanctuary for the survivors between trials and before they return to the campfire. She halts as the spikes drop where the other women are standing but seem to grow higher in front of herself. This close to escape, the women can’t stop themselves from pulling against the killer’s hold, but her grip is unyielding. Nancy starts crying and throwing her entire weight toward the exit as the Collapse gives its final warning, the Entity’s arrival rapidly approaching. It’s as if the killer is entirely unaware that the women are struggling against her hold with all their might, her focus instead on the barrier in front of her. She stops humming and grunts in frustration as the obstacle remains in her way. In a desperate attempt Claudette tries to pull at the thicker woman’s fingers, but her hold is inhumanly strong and tightens so that the ring on her middle finger digs painfully into the flesh of her wrist. The Huntress pulls the women to her using her arms to crush them against her torso and Claudette wants to continue struggling, but the hatchet threateningly pressing against her stomach makes her hesitate to thrash as wildly as the woman next to her. The sensation of the ground dropping out from beneath her feet brings forth a wave of panic strong enough to override her previous concern. 

She and Nancy scream in unison as the Entity’s black, spiny, spindly arms begin to emerge from the darkness to encircle them. Tendrils of black smoke rise from the void and wrap around their ankles, pulling them away from the killer’s clutches. The Huntress is not releasing them as they’re being pulled away Claudette realizes with a start as the grip around her shoulders crushes what little air she has from her lungs as it tightens. The taller woman grunts when she can no longer hold them to her, but she manages to grab one of their hands to keep them both within arms’ reach. Nancy cries out as the jarring motion causes a fresh wave of pain to radiate from her shoulder, but she knows it’s nothing compared to what’s to come and trembles in terror at the thought. She screams in agony, and thinks she might hear the other woman do the same but she can’t be sure, her own pain overwhelming every other sense than the sight of the Entity’s arm slick with her blood, protruding up from her abdomen as more begin to close around her. Claudette tries to reach up to uselessly grab the Entity's arm, but one of her hands is still tightly clasped within The Huntress’s grasp. She looks toward the killer’s figure, which is rapidly blurring as the life drains from her body, and finds her bloody rabbit mask looking back at her, bathing her in the red stain of her gaze. She feels a gentle pull on her hand right before it’s ripped from the killer’s as the Entity violently twists the survivor’s head and limbs in different directions, breaking their bones before driving its arms through their skulls to ensure that they’re dead. The Huntress growls and yells as their lifeless bodies disintegrate into the void to be consumed by the Entity, and it’s those noises that follow Claudette, replaying in her head until she’s waking up with a violent start near the campfire, Nancy’s wide eyes catching hers as they frantically look around. Neither of them speak, but they both know what the other is thinking, _What the fuck was that_?

**Author's Note:**

> I have plans for this fic but wanted to get this chapter written asap, so I can actually think about my other works too. Not expecting a lot of traffic on this fic, but it's going to be a Claudette/Huntress story line with Anna forcing Nancy into a daughter role. (So, if you're hoping for Claudette/Anna/Nancy, this isn't the fic for you, sorry. Also worth noting that I plan on giving a canon-typical happy ending, so... Not very happy or ideal? But at least as happy as I can make it :P). If you care enough to leave a kudo/comment that'd be cool, since I definitely would like to know people who share this ship. :)


End file.
